Three New Committees
Replace Operations Committee
Europe Focuses More
Attention on Government Concerns
Organization
Changes in Low-End Engineering
Ulf Fagerquist To Focus
On On 10/20
Products
Network Services
Created
Digital To Use Company
Facilities For Expanding Business Center Operation
Service For Small
Business Equipment Gets Special Attention
Ken Talks To Finanical
Analysts About Products
Pay For Performance
Emphasized By Kevin Sullivan, Manager, Corporate
Compensation And Benefits
Personal Computer
Notes
Three
New
Committees Replace Operations Committee
With
the expansion of the company, the Operations
Committee members feel the need to have a greater
number of managers participate in the review of
Digital's plans, operations and policies. They have
therefore established three new committees in place
of the current Operations Committee.
"With
wider representation of key managers in the
company's highest decision-making bodies, we hope to
open the way for upward movement of new and creative
ideas," explains Win Hindle, vice president,
Corporate Operations.
The
new committees focus on Product Strategy,
Marketing/Sales Strategy, and Management. They will
hold their first meetings in early April. Their
charters and membership are as follows:
The
Product Strategy Committee will review
product strategies, prioritizes product investments,
approve product plans and review
Manufacturing/Engineering/Marketing interfaces.
Members:
Jack
Smith, Gordon Bell and Ken Olsen, chairmen
Larry
Bornstein
George
Chamberlain
Jim
Cudmore
Dick
Esten
European
Engineering Manager
Sam
Fuller
Bill
Johnson
Andy
Knowles
Bill
Long (rotate Technical Group managers)
Julius
Marcus
Don
Metzger
Larry
Portner
Grant
Saviers
Harvey
Weiss
Jim
Willis (rotate-Technical Volume Group managers)
Rick
Corben, Secrtary
The Marketing/Sales
Strategy Committee will review marketing
strategies and programs and approve major product
pricing, new terms and conditions, channel
strategies and promotion campaigns. It will also
review Sales/- Marketing interfaces. Members:
Jack
Shields and Ken Olseng Chairmen
John1
Alexanderson
Ward
MacKenzie
Dick
Berube
Don
Busiek
Gerry
Butler
Dick
Farrahar (rotate with dick Walsh)
Bob
Hughes
Ed
Kramer
Del
Lippert
Jerry
Paxton
Jean-Claude
Peterschmitt
Ed
Schwartz
Joel
Schwartz
Chick
Shue
Jerry
Witmore
Cliff
Clarke, Secretary
The
Management Committee will reveiw the two-year
operating budget, integrate functions, approve
organization and role changes and review and approve
personnel, compensation and space policies and
plans. Members:
Win
Hindle and Ken Olsen, Chairmen
Al
Bertocchi
Pier-Carlo
Falotti
Dave
Grainger
Bill
Hanson
Jeff
Kalb
Dick
Pousen
Bob
Puffer
Jack
Shields
John
Sims
Jack
Smith
Pete
Smith (rotate- Marketing Group managers)
Bill
Thompson
Ron
Smart, Secretary
Rotating
membershihps will be on a six-month cycle.
Europe
Focuses
More Attention on Government Concerns
Digital's
continued success and increasing size have made it
very visible in Europe. National and European
Policies int he computer industry and markets, and
trends in international trade require that Digital
address strategic opportunities and relationships
with European governments and major European
companies.
Jean-Claude
Peterschmitt will devote a major part of his
activity to these critical strategic opportunities
and issues. Therefore,
he has asked Pier-Carlo Falotti to take the position
of vice-president, European Field Operations. Don
Zereski repladces Pier-Carlo as manager, European
Field SErivce.
Subsidiary
operations, Area Sles and Marketing staffs, and
European Service managers will report to Pier-Carlo.
European Personnel, F&A and Manufacturing will
continue to report to Jean-Claude.
Organization
Changes
in Low-End Engineering
Jim
Cudmore has been named vice president, group manager
for the Low-End engineering organizatino. In making
this announcement Gordon Bell and Jack Smith
explained, "We are anticipating unprecedented, rapid
growth in the Personal
Computer segment of this organization where Bill
Avery, over the past 18 months, has successfully
built three strongly focused PC development groups:
Professional, Rainbow and DECmate.
"To
provide greater visibility during this critial
growth period, these groups will report directly to
Jim. The clear segmentation of responsibility of
our Personal Computer development groups will allow
each of them to inter.act easily with differing
strategies and programs. This will also free Bill to
concentrate full time on the video, hard copy and
voice products, as well as the key integrative
activities and support services for overall
architecture and this entire space."
Reporting
to Jim in the new organization are:
John
Clarke Walt, DECmate Development Group
Walt
Hanstein, Electro Mechanical Development &
Support Group
Barry
James Folsom, Rainbow Development Group
Avram
Miller, Professional Development Group
Mike
Gutman, PDP-11 Systems Development Group
Bill
Avery, Printer Development Group, Video Development
Group, PC and Terminals: strategic planning,
architecture standards, common advanced development,
support and administration.
In a
related organizational move, Jeff Kalb, manager, LSI
Group, and Don Metzger, manager, Process &
Design Support Group, will now report directly to
Gordon and Jack.
Ulf
Fagerquist
To Focus On On
10/20 Products
Ulf
Fagerquist will concentrate all of his efforts on
the development of DEC System 10/20 products in an
attempt to give the products more visibility. He
will report to Bill Johnson.
In a
related move, Bob Glorioso, whose group focuses on
future high end systems and technology, will report
to Bill.
* * *
Network
Services
Created
To
support the major corporate thrust in the area of
distributed systems and network products, a Network
Support Group has been formed to provide: customer
support, major proposal support. Sales support.
Educational Services support, Software Services
support and Field Service support.
Tom
Karpowski has been named Network Support Manager. He
reports to Jerry Montague, manager of Operations and
Support Technology for Field Service and Software
Services.
The
group will be located in the New England area, but
will have worldwide support responsibility. It will
also be accountable for development of service
products that complement our network architecture.
Digital
To Use Company Facilities For Expanding Business
Center Operation
Digital
has decided to convert some of the available floor
space in Manufacturing and Sales facilities into
Business Centers where products can be sold. The
company will also expand its product offerings as it
increases the number of retail outlets in the U.S.
"There
is absolutely no reason we should construct or rent
buildings if we have perfectly suitable floor space
available in our Sales or Manufacturing facilities.
We are looking at lobbies as well as other available
floor space," says Barry Cioffi, manager, Small
Business Channels Marketing. "This is a cost savings
step as well as a way of subtly telling potential
customers, who might not know very much about us,
that we are a large company that can stand behind
our products. People want to buy from companies
which will be around for a long time. Whether they
are at a plant or sales office, customers will get a
sense of substance.
"In
the past, we have only had DECmate I at our Business
Centers (formerly called "stores") and just recently
we started offering the DECmate II with MICRO/PDP-11
and VAX-11/730 to be offered in the immediate
future. The plans call for us to offer an entire
range of business computers which will meet the
needs of the single user market as well as the
multiple-user market. No other company offers this
full range of products to the small business
market."
Centers
will also facilitate service when it is required.
Some actually will include drop in centers. Others
will send equipment brought into the center to the
appropriate place.
Digital
now has 24 Small Business Centers around the world.
Plans call for this number to steadily increase over
the next two years, with about ten Centers to open
within the next six months. High population areas
will be targeted.
Service
For
Small Business Equipment Gets Special Attention
According
to Ken Senior, manager, Small Business Channels
Planning, Digital has created several ways to meet
any service requirements of customers who purchase
small business computers. Traditional service
contracts are available for customers who want
service within a specified number of hours. People
who do not opt for a contract, can have their
equipment serviced on a "pay as you go" basis. In
addition, mailers will soon be available for the
more technically oriented customer who can identify
which module needs replacement.
"We
also have a hotline for customers with questions
about software problems or procedures. Located in
Atlanta, Georgia, the hotline number is (800)
DIG-ITAL," says Ken.
Digital
will provide any number of training courses to users
who feel the need for personalized instruction on
their computers.
Ken
Talks
To Finanical Analysts About Products
At a
recent meeting of the Boston Security Analyst
Society, Ken Olsen stressed Digital's price and
technical leadership in disk products. He
specifically mentioned the RA60 and RA81 disks and
related products, such as the HSC50 intelligent
storage controller, which give Digital an edge in
the area of networking and clustering computer
systems.
The
HSC50 connects to the new Computer Interconnect (CI)
bus to support disks and tapes not attached to
specific computer systems. This device makes it
possible for several computers to have access to the
same disk without the delays and file duplication of
conventional networks, or for two computers to work
in parallel, vastly increasing the speed of
processing. In other cases, it can be used to record
the same data on several disks simultaneously.
He
noted that production of our new personal computers
is going well. "We're now making about 500 a day,
and before summer we plan to get to 1000 a day. With
that number we'll satisfy quite a few customers. As
you start going from zero to 1000 a day, any little
thing can slow you down," he admitted. "But the
problems get fixed quickly, and we're moving ahead
well.
"The
other area where there is a large push is in office
automation," Ken added. "Here we're concentrating on
the leading companies with sophisticated needs that
want to tie large organizations together, and to
exploit all the features of office automation. Some
of the Fortune 500 companies are now our customers.
In some cases, their research and other departments
have been using our equipment for years, and we're
now becoming a serious factor in many office
applications."
As a
general comment on Digital's approach to business,
he reiterated, "Our goal is never to sacrifice
quality. In the industrial-commercial area, quality
is the most important thing. In the long run, that's
what people want. Even though some may buy
home-quality, television-quality personal computers
to start with, we feel that in the long run, they
will only want the utmost in quality and
usefulness."
In
answer to a question relating to the causes behind
the upturn in Digital's second quarter order rate,
Ken replied, "I think it's a combination of
factors. The economy has turned around. We're a lot
more efficient in selling now. And we have a lot of
good products. Part of it comes about due to recent
product announcements, such as those relating to
networking, that showed people how they could use
our equipment in the future. Some of the new
products that we announce that won't be available
for awhile encourage people to buy the old ones
because they can see a future for them. Then, of
course, our personal computers account for a good
part of the new orders. And we have quite a few
large orders in the office automation area.
"Also,
our 16-bit computers are doing very well. For a
couple years we didn't push them as hard as we
probably should have, because the VAX was doing so
well and it's such a great machine. But we've
started to push PDP-lls aggressively again because
for many applications they are by far the best
solution and there is lots of proven software out
there."
Pay
For
Performance Emphasized By Kevin Sullivan, Manager,
Corporate Compensation And Benefits
As
managers complete their salary plans for the next 12
months, they will notice there are no guide charts
to frame decisions about individual increases. In
fact, except for average percent increases and
six-month delay parameters, there are no guidelines,
just goals and simple planning tools. This approach
places the responsibility for pay for performance
squarely on the shoulders of the individual manager.
Our
primary goal is to reinforce pay for performance as
a practice as well as a philosophy. All employees
should be evaluated in relation to their
contribution to the success of the company. This
year's special emphasis is to recognize performance
excellence with increases calculated to reinforce
that contribution. We want our outstanding
performers to be rewarded well. It's up to the
managers to make this happen.
Personal
Computer
Notes
o One of Finland's largest
insurance companies purchased a distributed data
processing solution which includes 15 VAX-11/730S
and VAX 11/750S as well as over 100 Professional
350s.
o Michigan/Wisconsin Pipeline, a
major oil and natural gas supplier, has purchased
Professionals for inventory control and other
applications at each of its 71 field locations which
stretch from Michigan to an exploration rig in the
Gulf of Mexico. The Professionals will eventually be
tied into an inter-office communications network of
11 VAXs. Michigan/Wisconsin Pipeline is a subsidiary
of American Natural Resources,
o Gordon Foods of Michigan is
implementing a statewide network of Rainbows to be
used for menu planning and other applications.
o In the educational market,
recent sales include New York Institute of
Technology, Boston University and Case Western
Reserve. Programs include quantity discount
agreements so the schools can resell personal
computers to students and faculty.
o The District of Columbia
public school system is installing Professional 350s
in each of its 200 schools for the administration of
test scores and computer science education.
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